Weapon Swap
by SerapeWrensFolk
Summary: Ozpin gives out a special assignment to all Beacon leaders to design a week long team building exercise. While Jaune attempts to strengthen JNPR's perception through blindfolding, Ruby decides the members of RWBY need to understand each others combat styles through an exchange of equipment. Surely, nothing too valuable will end up breaking, right?
1. Sales Pitch

Sunday mornings at Beacon academy were often quite peaceful. The combination of days off from classes and late night social activities the previous evenings meant most every student would be sleeping well into the morning. It was a calm period so very unlike the usual goings on of a school meant to train warriors. Usually. The case was not true of this certain Sunday morning.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Blonde hair was nearly ablaze as Yang was restraining the urge to strangle her little sister and team leader.

"Does the leader face say I'm kidding?" Ruby responded with simple authority. She was getting better and better at switching from adorable to assertive and it certainly came in handy facing down her obscenely pissed off team. Well, two members of her team were pissed. The third was composed, if surprised.

"There's no way I'm doing this!" Weiss exclaimed with her panties-in-a-bunch voice. "It's unnecessary, impractical, and, not to mention, just plain stupid."

"I have to agree with the ice princess here, sis. I'm out," Yang said as she turned to head back to the dorm. Maybe if she went back to sleep she could forget about all this.

A cloud of rose petals emerged right in front of the blonde, her little sister with them, face scrunched up in annoyance at her authority being challenged. "Leader face means non-negotiable!" Okay, maybe she still had to pull back the adorable a few notches, "Besides, it's not like one week of this is gonna kill you, sis."

"I wouldn't be so sure. Where did you even get an idea this stupid?"

_xxxxx The previous night xxxxx_

"So, any idea what this is about?" Ruby asked Jaune as they took to sitting beside each other in the small meeting room. It was Saturday night and the two of them had just been pulled from their weekend fun to attend a summons sent to them by the headmaster himself.

"Not a clue. I just got a message on my scroll, saying to come here and not tell my team mates," the klutzy blond responded as he surveyed the room. "Looks like all the team leaders from first year are here for this, though. Maybe this is a command class?"

"Ugh… More classes?" she put her head in her hands as she groaned. "I've got enough on my plate as it is. Yang found out what happens when Blake gets a whiff of catnip, and decided to hide random bits of it all around the dorm. Now I have to spray her with a water bottle to keep some personal space until I find it all." The red cloaked girl sighed in frustration as she remembered finding her stealth specialist rolling around on the floor, that morning.

"Yeah, I hear you. Nora found a one eyed raven, a few days ago. She says it's something called 'The Allfather'. She's started worshipping it."

"Allfather?"

"Yeah, I've got no idea where she gets this."

"Ahem," the whole room went silent as the headmaster revealed his presence to everyone. "I'm glad to see you all attending this meeting. I realize many of you had to interrupt your night's schedules to be here. However, I assure you this is important. I have a very special task for all of you." Everyone perked up when they heard that. A mission from Ozpin was rare and often challenging. "Each of you leads a team at this school. Over the last few months, your teams have become solid and efficient. However, there is always more you can do to improve your group, as you leaders must learn. That's where this assignment comes in. I want each of you to come up with a weeklong training exercise to challenge both yourself and your team mates. It can be anything you can think of, within reason, of course," he gave a small smirk towards Ruby with his last statement, who blushed and looked away in embarrassment. It's not like she was going to go overboard… this time. "You are dismissed, though I would suggest conversing with your fellow leaders before you leave, one can always do with additional insight."

Ruby immediately turned to Jaune, excited and intimidated by this new super special, ultra awesome, top secret assignment they'd just been given. "So, any ideas on what you're gonna do?" she implored while bouncing a little in her seat.

Jaune raked a hand through his hand slowly, trying to get an idea on what his team needed to work on. "Maybe… something involving sensory aura use? The last match we had with you guys in the forest was a complete disaster after you tossed that smoke bomb at us. That was an impressive cloud, by the way. When did you make it?"

"I couldn't really sleep one night and decided it was a perfect time to work on the first thing I found on my desk. Didn't really work the first time, though…"

The Arc youth chuckled as he thought back to a certain night time disruption a few weeks back. "Ohhhh, so you're the reason the fire alarm went off. It was cold, that night," he gave a shiver as he remembered standing in the courtyard with only pajama pants on, same as every other student from the building.

Ruby giggled a little at his reaction, "Bet you're wishing Pyrrha hadn't 'misplaced' your old onesie," she still couldn't believe he hadn't picked up on the message of that action. '_Poor Jaune… So naïve of the ways of the female mind…' _"Well, the best way to improve a sense is by depriving yourself of another one and forcing it to pick up the slack."

"You're right… I think I've got an idea. What about you?"

"Hm…" Ruby scrunched up her face as she thought, "I feel like they're getting too complacent. They're not experimenting or diversifying when they fight and teamwork could be a lot better. What to do about that…" the redheaded spaz poured through options in her head, not yet finding something that would click. She pulled Crescent Rose off her back and set it on the table in collapsed form. "What do you think, sweetie?" As she stared at her companion of a weapon, an idea slowly took root.

_xxxxxxxxx Present time xxxxxxxx  
_

"Doesn't matter. Weapon swap is happening. NO arguments," Ruby put on her leader face again to prove her point. She gently drew her weapon from its usual place behind her back and offered it to Weiss. "Be careful with her, but don't be afraid. She'll treat you right." Weiss observed the deceptively small object in front of her with wide eyes. Never once had she wanted to wield Crescent Rose. The thing was a death trap for anyone but Ruby and maybe this Uncle Qrow she'd heard about. "Well, go on. Take it. Meanwhile, Blake, you get Ember Celica and Yang, you get Myrtenaster."

"WHAT?!" came the harmonizing shouts of her partner and older sister.

"There's no way I'm giving my very delicate and beautiful weapon to the brute of the team!" Weiss cried out indignantly.

"No arguments here, Weiss. Sis, I'd break that thing in half in a second," Yang tried as hard as she could to make her sister see reason.

Ruby was still holding her baby out to her partner, not looking amused. "Let me make this clear for you. Me leader. You team. Obey!"

After a few seconds of being on the receiving end of their leader's death glare, Weiss accepted the collapsed scythe and gingerly handed over her rapier to Yang without a word. She winced as the blonde took her elegant silver death dealer in an extremely tight grip. She winced again when she looked down at the ton of fun Ruby had left her. This was going to be a terrible week.

Ruby turned to Blake, who was fitting Ember Celica to her wrists and held her hand out respectfully. "I promise I'll keep Gambol in good shape." Blake nodded as she slowly detached the sword and sheath from its magnet on her back and kneeled to offer it to her leader in a traditional stance. Ruby took it gently and weighed the blade in her hand. "Thanks for going along with this, Blake," she said gently. "I promise this week will be worth it."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Inside the cafeteria, a certain scraggly knight was having a similar conversation with his own team. Thankfully, though, JNPR seemed to be a lot less volatile. Still, it was becoming a bit of a hard sell the longer he explained the situation. So far, two thirds of his allies were skeptical. One third was Nora.

"I don't know, Jaune. Doesn't this seem a little dangerous?" the redhead to his left said with the softest amount of concern she could muster. Pyrrha was very proud of how well Jaune had grown as a leader over the last few months. He was doing much better in terms of combat effectiveness, as well as assertive confidence. That being said, there were times when she felt he was not thinking clearly in the slightest. Right now, looking at him fumbling with a strip of cloth as he tried to affix the thing in front of his very eyes, was one of those times.

"C'mon Pyrrha, it'll be fine," Jaune responded with the most casual of brush offs as he finally cinched the knot behind his head. "If we restrict our sight for a week, our other senses will sharpen in response."

"He's right! It'll be so cool!" Nora interjected with the typical jubilance. She then turned to her partner and gave the biggest pout she could muster, "Pleeeeease Ren? We'll be like kung fu masters. That's right up your alley!"

The lotus warrior in question gave out a snort in response to the request, "Nora, just because I practice martial arts doesn't mean I think blindfolding ourselves in an academy full of extremely immature world class warriors for an entire week is a good idea. There are going to be so many people gunning for us, thinking we're easy targets."

"But we won't be! We'll be super secret kung fu masters; at harmony with all of nature and commanders of the seventh sense!" Nora's retort was about as grounded in reality as any of them expected.

"Seventh sense?" Pyrrha looked at her teammate inquisitively, completely unsure of how to respond, at this point.

"Well, I've already got a sixth sense, silly. I can tell when squirrels are afraid."

A resounding thunk could be heard as Lie Ren's forehead met their table. His resolve already broken from not being allowed to sleep in today, he had no fight left, "Fine… let's just get this over with."

Jaune, now completely blindfolded, whooped and raised his hand towards where he assumed was Nora's direction in an attempt at a high five. When he received a slap back, he assumed he had succeeded in the gesture. "All right, that's three out of four. Are you in, Pyrrha."

The tournament fighter gave a distressed whine in the back of her throat as she realized she was now completely outnumbered. Slowly, she reached forward and took one of the three remaining blindfolds into her hand, "I… suppose it couldn't hurt… too badly."


	2. Test Run Part 1

Weiss swore she played victim to some manner of curse, sometimes. This current moment, where she was looking over the compact red and black package that could unfold into a scythe that would dwarf her, was definitely one of them. The white haired girl felt the empty space on her hip that her sword usually occupied and gave a small sigh.

The Schnee heiress never had much use for practicing with weapons besides her rapier. Why would she need to? Her father had promised her since lesson one that a weapon like hers simply had no equal. The elegance a precision of the sword mixed with the raw power and versatility of dust. It was the pinnacle of Schnee engineering and specifically made to suit a warrior of her status. What could this hulking monstrosity, something that belonged in a comic book, possibly do that her own instrument could not?

Well, besides kill her.

Weiss gave out another sigh and reached towards the borrowed weapon. She would not allow some inanimate object defeat her so easily. Her family's honor could never suffer that kind of blow. Finding the small switch on the bottom, she flicked it gently. She gave a small shriek and leapt back when the weapon fully unfolded. Composing herself and praying no one in the courtyard had seen that, Weiss gingerly took hold of the grip and hoisted the ridiculous excuse for a gardening implement into a sloppy spear stance.

She tried a few swings, getting a feel for the weapon's balance. Each swipe made her feel power and danger; just like she would expect from a Ruby designed weapon. Her mind drifted back to watching her friend fight. Seeing Ruby in battle was like watching a dance only she knew the steps to. Who the red girl was dancing with was unclear. It could have been Crescent Rose, her so called sweetie. Or it could have been her opponent as a way of getting to understand them. Or maybe it was death itself she liked to dance with; the thrill of it driving her into more danger. Regardless, the dance was beautiful in its own way.

Weiss flashed back to the last sparring match she had seen between the Rose/Xiao Long sisters. Ruby had opened the match by propelling herself across the ring in the blink of an eye, blade ready to meet Yang's chest had her gauntlets not snapped into a block. Such speed was extraordinary. It built on her already impressive agility. Weiss wanted to reach that speed, now more than ever. She swung the scythe around, an almost perfect mimicry of how the weapon's owner would do it, every time. The heiress fingered the trigger hesitantly, before finally giving it a light squeeze.

What Weiss had expected to happen was not all that well known to her. What she had not expected was for the scythe to tear itself from her grip and sail across the courtyard before burying itself two feet into the wall of one of the buildings. The entire courtyard had gone silent and everyone gazed between Weiss and the instrument. The silence continued for a few seconds, until the row of trees that had been in the path of the projectile slowly slid off their trunks and crashed to the ground.

Weiss had a feeling her father would be more than a little curious at finding a charge for landscapers on her credit card bill, that month.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

If there was one thing going through Pyrrha's mind as she rigidly stepped through the hallways to try and navigate by sound and touch alone, it was how Jaune was so very lucky he was cute. So very cute… with his shaggy blond hair and… no! She needed to keep her focus or she would not last a day of this exercise.

Everyone on JNPR had a different sort of reaction to the blindfolds. Jaune stumbled a lot, keeping his hands in front of him at all times to keep from smashing into any walls or people. He had already had a near-grope experience with Ms. Goodwitch thanks to that strategy, judging by the comments she could not stop hearing, at the moment. Nora just acted like Nora. There was no real surprise there. The heavy weapons syrup addict committed to every movement she made, throwing herself in whatever direction she pleased with reckless abandon. The only reason no one had been hurt by that yet was thanks to her partner's near psychic ability to anticipate these actions and interrupt them accordingly. How he was able to do this, Pyrrha had no idea. Regardless, Lie Ren was probably adjusting to this altered state of perception best out of the team. Pyrrha's envy of him was almost to the point of loathing. Currently, she was having her own troubles with the lack of sight.

"Oh, hey Pyrr-RAH!" the voice, which sounded quite a bit like Blake Belladonna, rang out in panic as the tournament fighter greeted her with an arm bar and then threw the young ninja over her shoulder, taking her straight to the ground.

"Blake, I'm so sorry!" Pyrrha snapped out of her assault in an instant and helped her friend up as gently as possible.

"Is that how they say hello in Mistral?" Blake questioned jokingly, still in a bit of a daze from her sudden attack.

"No, no," Pyrrha denied sheepishly, "It's just, I've been having a very strange day. Jaune came up with a team exercise for us and it's been a little stressful."

"Oh, you too? Ruby came up with something, as well. What does Jaune have you-" the ninja's question was cut short as she finally got a look at her friend's face. "Pyrrha, why are you wearing a blindfold?"

"That's the exercise," the warrior explained with slumped shoulders. "He says we're getting too reliant on our sight, so we're all wearing blindfolds for the whole week. As you can see, I haven't quite adjusted yet. On the upside, my semblance has helped me sense the metal around me. Did you get some new bracelets, by the way?" Pyrrha unconsciously gestured to the golden pieces of jewelry on Blake's wrists.

"That's Ruby's exercise. She had all of us switch weapons. I got Ember Celica."

If Pyrrha's eyes were not covered, Blake would have noticed they were wide as saucers. "Oh my, that's… how much property damage has been caused, already?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yang Xiao Long was by no means a delicate sort of girl. Brute force was her preferred method of operation in almost every facet of her existence. Even when attending to her most precious baby sister, the brawler preferred to wrap Ruby in the tightest possible hugs to express her affection. When she started going Signal and her Uncle Qrow brought her to the school forgery for the very first time, he had asked her what sort of weapon she wanted to make.

Her thirteen-year-old self had looked at the various examples hung up on the walls, face scrunched up in concentration. She dismissed weapon after weapon, surmising they would be too easily broken or too complex to use effectively. She had considered nearly everything, even her own uncle's scythe before dismissing it briefly as 'not her style'. Eventually, when almost every blueprint had been discarded and her frustration hit its boiling point, the young girl realized how simple the answer was. In her old school, the students received rudimentary training in every basic form of weapon combat. She had been terrible at nearly all of them, proving mediocre in only a few. However, there was one form of combat she had excelled past every other student: hand to hand combat.

Her fists had always been her weapon of choice when hunting down the bullies who dared do anything to harm Ruby. They had been powerful enough to get her minor school suspensions and proud glances from her father in between his attempts to put on the guise of a strict progenitor when he drove her with him to his work at Signal, claiming with all his heart that taking her to his boring old teaching job was a suitable punishment for his baby girl breaking some punk's femur. The realization had dawned fast on Yang and, quickly after that; Ember Celica was born to the world. Ruby had been so ecstatic when she saw her big sister's super special, 100% hers weapon that night.

So, how was it that the sweet, innocent, and achingly adorable little sister she'd read so many bed time stories to had turned into such a cruel, heartless war machine capable of separating Yang from the bread and butter of her fighting style and forcing her to use this pathetic silver toothpick of a weapon? She glanced down at Myrtenaster with a sneer. It was more status symbol than death dealer. It was a frilly, privileged instrument for an equally frilly and privileged girl. It wasn't any fit for a true tomboy like her.

Still, Yang remembered there would be a 4v4 sparring match tomorrow. She really had no intention of getting her ass handed to her if she could somehow avoid it, so she figured she might as well figure out the basics of the rapier. With a swipe of her free palm, the blonde gave the sword's dust cylinder a rapid spin and let the clicks emit from the device before pulling the trigger down and locking a random selection. When her aura charged through the weapon and an enormous bolt of electricity shot towards the sky, Yang's mood shifted just a bit more into positive territory. A mildly psychotic smirk broke out across her face as she considered what else she could do with this thing.

"I have the power."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Author's note: Hey guys. Thought we could all use a few laughs today. As most of you know, our most beloved of lemon punchers passed away, yesterday. There's nothing I could say about Monty Oum that hasn't been said over a thousand times, already. He was a badass. He was an artist. He had an iron will like no other. He had a kind heart that wanted nothing more than to encourage the creative thoughts of others.**

** Though I never met him in person, I have my own love for Monty and his work took a huge part in inspiring me to do my best and strive for greatness. The world feels darker without him, but I intend to do something about that. I'll do my best, I'll pursue as many crazy ideas as I can conceive. I'll try and do my part in filling a small part of the enormous gap that has been left by Monty's departure. I hope you join me in that. I certainly can't do it alone. It'll take all of us.**

** But that is for the future, something to look forward to in time. Right now, I leave you with a very special bonus scene.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Wheeeee! Didn't I tell you this was gonna be so much fun?"

"Incoming wall, Nora."

"Whoosh! Just missed it! Thanks, Ren!"

"Just slow down," Lie Ren kept a calm pace as he and his partner strolled down a quiet hallway, getting used to the ever present cloth blocking their sightlines. Ren had adjusted to the lack of sight surprisingly well, managing to keep a normal gait with no fear or hesitation in his movements. Nora was the same, though, he was the only reason she had not smashed into anything in the last fifteen minutes.

"Hm… Naw, I have a better idea," the pint sized power house giggled mischievously, causing the lotus warrior minor alarm at not knowing what she was planning. The next thing he knew, he felt a familiar weight pounce on his back, causing him to stagger only a second before gaining back his stride, "Now, I can just relax and listen. You get to do all the driving."

Ren could not hold back the grin spreading across his face as he felt his partner's cheek squeeze against his in an affectionate display. "I thought this was supposed to be a training exercise. You can't expect me to let you cheat and use me for the whole week," he teased, giving her a small shake as they went along.

"Awwww, but I thought we were bestest friends," she responded with mock hurt, before letting out a delighted squeal as Ren made a quick sidestep to avoid a hanging sign. Nora sighed and nestled into his neck a bit further, "I like your heartbeat. It's so steady."

The blush on the young huntsman's cheeks was unseen, but the heat radiating had to have been detected. He could sense another sign coming up, doing another sidestep but adding a twirl this time, just for fun.

Nora's ecstatic giggles rang throughout the empty hallway. She loved when Ren was in a playful mood. It usually meant he switched his role as her retainer to one as her partner in crime. She knew this exercise would be fun. Still, there was something she was curious about, "Ren, how are you so good at this, already?"

The warrior scholar smirked a little as he considered his answer. After a few seconds of contemplation, he finally spoke up, "I guess, I'd say it's because I've come to terms with not knowing exactly what's in front of me. If I just keep moving forward, I'll get where I'm going."

Nora smiled as she hugged him a bit tighter, feeling suddenly afraid he might float away from her in that instant of perfection. "Yeah, that sounds like you. Always the smarty pants, right?"

Ren chuckled a little as he felt the telltale warmth of sunlight grace his skin. They had made it outside, finally. "Yeah, I guess so. Let's keep going. Maybe we'll end up somewhere interesting."

The mounting girl nodded into the crook of her friend's neck in agreement, "Sounds good! Off to adventure!" And so, the pair of them set off in whatever direction they cared to, ready to experience their academy from a new perspective.

A second later, they hit the deck in panic with they heard sniper fire and falling trees.


End file.
